Michigan auto supplier Paslin tries to run business amid tariff chaos, frozen work

• Auto supplier Paslin could add 200 jobs if automakers got clarity on tariffs and resumed work.
• Paslin is seeking to expand its footprint to offer services to more businesses beyond the auto industry.
• Paslin will not lay people off because when work returns, it wants to be ready to go.

Joe Perkins left a meeting with a customer in Canada on Thursday afternoon remarking: "You could feel the emotion in the room" over the continued fallout around U.S. tariffs on autos.

Perkins, the CEO of auto industry supplier Paslin, has been meeting — either in person or by phone — with customers nearly nonstop since the talk of tariffs started in early February. That's because the uncertainty around tariffs and the dire consequences industry experts expect have prompted automakers to pause jobs that Paslin would otherwise be doing.

"I refuse to lay people off because I need to make sure I have the talent in place, and I'm prepared to absorb the process and new work once it comes back," Perkins said. "And it’s a hard way to lead a company because I’m dealing with gray."

The gray has only darkened, and any intense emotions, such as those felt Thursday, have only escalated since late Wednesday. That's when President Donald Trump signed an executive order implementing 25% tariffs against Canada and all other countries on all imported vehicles and many auto parts starting April 3. Many Canadians have said the tariffs feel like an attack on their nation because it will likely mean exports will dry up, hurting their economy.

Trump said the tariffs will benefit the United States by encouraging more U.S. manufacturing, creating jobs and bringing in billions of dollars.

But auto industry experts said tariffs are unsustainable for any length of time because they will blow up what is a complex supply chain and tack on billions of dollars in costs as companies pay tariffs on parts that cross borders, often several times, before reaching final assembly on a vehicle made in the United States. Also, nearly half the vehicles sold in the states are imported. Experts warn new car prices will soar.

For Perkins, it means continued paralysis. Paslin, which is owned by Chinese company Wanfeng, is based in Shelby Township. It makes assembly lines for automakers and is the No. 1 provider of truck frame assembly lines in North America. It also develops automation systems for non-auto distribution centers and construction companies. About 70% of Paslin's business is in the auto sector.

"I’m literally stuck in limbo right now," Perkins said Thursday. "Everything is dead in the water until the rules are more clearly understood. Yesterday still speaks to the level of confusion and uncertainty: Are these tariffs going to stick? Who knows? What does yesterday really mean when you pull back the onion? Who knows? I have lawyers looking at it to interpret it."

More work would mean more hires

Paslin is just one example of the anxiety many suppliers, especially smaller ones, are coping with as they work to manage costs while staying operationally prepared for a return to regular business, even though they don't know when that will happen. Michigan is a leading state for the industry, beyond just automakers. MEMA, the trade group that represents suppliers, said of its 1,000 members, 400 are based in Michigan.

Paslin has five facilities in Michigan; one factory in Saltillo, Mexico, that it opened in 2023, and three factories in China. It employs about 400 full-time people in Michigan and 250 more at its facilities across Mexico and China, Perkins said. The company also employs many contract people as it gets projects — but those are currently frozen.

"To the extent that sourcing frees up ultimately from the (automakers), we can significantly increase our Michigan-based headcount both permanent and contract," Perkins said.

If there are no tariffs, or targeted tariffs, and work resumes, Perkins said the company would look to add at least 200 employees either in permanent or contract employment.

But with the volatility still hanging over the industry, he said Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Stellantis and others are still operating in uncertainty and the work is not returning. As a result, none of Paslin's factories is running at full capacity. Instead, Perkins is running the company from what he calls a "defensive position" operating in "region of consumption." That means his facilities in China produce goods for use only in China and the facilities in Michigan produce the products only for the United States, and so on.

“It is manageable. We’ll figure it out," Perkins said. "It just means that in Mexico and China, I need to ensure that I have a very strong commercial strategy for sourcing local-based customers and ensure that that’s the fuel that drives profitability in those regions.”

Operating as a global company is not an option

Perkins said he has hit pause on Paslin's global strategy until he has clarity on tariffs saying, "It makes no sense to do that now."

In fact, he admits, global operations are not even a realistic possibility because work from auto customers remains on hold.

Perkins declined to provide the company's earnings. But he said based on where the company is right now, with the hope of more work opening up, he projects annual revenue this year at $300 million to $400 million. That would still be higher than 2024 revenue, he said, based on his push for more jobs outside of autos.

Paslin creates the automation at distribution centers, Perkins said. The company is also in the construction space for a customer who builds apartments, mostly in the South. Paslin automated the process to build prefabricated pods for kitchens and bathrooms. The pods are built in a factory and then installed in apartments.

“So warehousing and distribution, construction are really our two main current points of focus, but I’m looking at all kinds of stuff because automation applies everywhere," Perkins said about the potential to expand Paslin's business.

Perkins is working to shift Paslin's work allocation from 70% autos and 30% non-autos to a more 50/50 split to protect against future volatility in the car business.

"That happens not by reducing my auto focus, which is important to me, but by expanding my non-auto focus, while continuing to keep a strong focus on my auto side," Perkins said.

If Paslin could operate globally rather than regionally in its autos business, however, that would deliver "a quicker and a better" return on investment, he said.

"How long can we support what we’re doing? I can’t answer that because it’s very hard to predict an evolution of customer sourcing," Perkins said. "But it’s certainly something that I watch and think about and study every day.”

Disappointment after automaker cancellations amid volatility

This year's turbulence is especially frustrating for Perkins, given that many programs dried up last year in relation to electric vehicles. Automakers realized the demand for EVs was not growing at the pace they had predicted and hit the brakes with their suppliers last year, including Paslin.

"I did not lose customers, but programs were either delayed or canceled, and I had a high level of EV-specific contracts last year that were either delayed or canceled," Perkins said. "So last year was volatile for us as well."

He said that in 2023, the industry was fairly steady. Paslin had started work on a lot of EV-related programs, then going into 2024, "that’s when we started to see the reality of EV adoption and saw movement of our customer to pause, delay or cancel."

Despite that, Paslin was profitable last year, "but not to the level we’d budgeted due to these cancellations and delays."

It wasn't just EVs that caused volatility. He said certain gasoline vehicle programs that Paslin thought it would win last year also got delayed as automakers rethought their investment focus.

"That’s why I was disappointed, because going into 2025, it was evident to me that that clarity was starting to take shape between allocation between (internal combustion engine) vehicles and EVs, and then the tariff volatility hit us," Perkins said.

'It's going to come back ... don't cut your core people'

Perkins now watches three pillars of his business.

• The first and most important is for the volatility around tariffs to evaporate, prompting the automakers to resume projects for which it had hired Paslin to make assembly lines.
• The second is being able to expand beyond regional operations to a global strategy.
• Finally, managing Paslin's exposure when buying parts from China, Canada and Mexico because the company is now faced with paying tariffs. Trump has increased tariffs on goods imported from China to 20%. 

"Through our commercial terms, our commercial options, that exposure for Paslin is actually really small," Perkins said. "Do we focus on it? Do we manage it? Absolutely. Is the resulting exposure large? No. It’s more of a global strategy issue for me and again, looking at: When is sourcing going to free up?"

While Trump has said the latest tariffs are permanent, Perkins holds out hope that they are not. He knows that he and other auto industry leaders holding out hope that the tariffs won't stick is partly why things remain frozen: Everyone waits.

“It's a 'Let’s wait until tomorrow and see what happens. You never know. Is it really 100% permanent?' " Perkins said. "That’s why things are dead in the water."

Whether they stick or not, Perkins remains confident that there is enough consumer demand for new vehicles that once the automakers understand the tariffs and the new "rules of engagement," the industry will bounce back and his jobs will return.

"The good news is it’s going to come back, it’s just a matter of when," Perkins said. "So the challenge of leadership for me is to manage my costs the best I can in the near term, but not cut to the point that it limits my ability to service my customers when it comes back. A customer told me today, 'It’s going to come back, so don’t cut your core people.’ ”

Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.